Full title | Saints Francis and Mark |
---|---|
Artist | Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d'Alemagna |
Artist dates | probably active 1440; died 1476/84; died 1449/50 |
Series | Panels from an Altarpiece |
Date made | about 1440-6 |
Medium and support | Tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 135.3 x 45.1 cm |
Inscription summary | Inscribed |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1889 |
Inventory number | NG1284 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
Two saints stand on a fantastically cusped stone plinth in front of a rose hedge. They are Francis and Mark, identified by their attributes – the symbols with which they are traditionally associated – and by the inscriptions in the front of the plinth. Mark, one of the four authors of the Gospels, holds a copy of his Gospel, while Francis is dressed in a brown habit and holds a crucifix.
They were once the right wing of a triptych (an altarpiece in three parts) painted in Venice in the 1440s by Antonio Vivarini and his brother-in-law and partner Giovanni d'Alemagna.
The altarpiece originally stood in the church of Saint Moisé in Venice, and the saints on it would have been chosen by its patrons. Saint Mark was the patron saint of Venice; Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order, was hugely popular in the fifteenth century.
Two saints stand on a fantastically cusped stone plinth in front of a rose hedge. They are Francis and Mark, identified by their attributes – the symbols with which they are traditionally associated – and by the inscriptions in the front of the plinth. Mark, one of the Four Evangelists, holds a copy of his Gospel, while Francis is dressed in a brown habit and holds a crucifix.
They were once the right wing of a triptych (an altarpiece in three parts) painted in the 1440s by Antonio Vivarini and his brother-in-law and partner Giovanni d'Alemagna. The left wing, Saints Peter and Jerome, is also in our collection. The whole altarpiece was originally in the church of San Moisè in Venice, presumably on a side altar dedicated to the Virgin (according to church law, altarpieces had to reflect the dedication of the altar on which they stood).
The saints on the altarpiece would have been chosen by its patrons. Saint Mark was the patron saint of Venice and Saint Francis was hugely popular in the fifteenth century. He was the founder of the Franciscan Order, an order of friars who took religious vows but were not confined to a monastery – they lived in towns and cities. The three knots on his belt symbolise the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that all Franciscans took. Through a tear in the side of his robe you can see the marks of the stigmata – the wounds of the Crucifixion which miraculously appeared on Francis’s body.
Antonio and Giovanni collaborated on many altarpieces and it is hard to work out which artist did which bits. The way the figures and draperies are painted in this panel is different to in the panel of Saints Peter and Jerome – compare the faces, hands and feet in particular. Perhaps Giovanni, who might have specialised in the kind of yellow of Saint Peter’s cloak, did Peter and Jerome while Antonio did Francis and Mark.
It was very unusual in Venetian art of this period to show saints standing on plinths like this, as if they are sculptures: the idea was picked up by Crivell later in the century, as in the Demidoff Altarpiece. The Vivarini workshop possibly also worked on colouring sculpture and maybe took the idea from contemporary altarpieces and tombs.
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Saints Francis and Mark
Panels from an Altarpiece
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by the Vivarinis, a Venetian family of artists working in the second half of the fifteenth century. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – symbolic objects associated with them. They are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. They stand on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych (a painting in three parts) with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne – the figures seem to exist in the same space.
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by Antonio Vivarini in collaboration with his brother-in-law Giovanni d‘Alemagna, whose name suggests he originally came from Germany. The Vivarinis ran a successful family workshop in Venice in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century; Bartolomeo and Alvise Vivarini were also members. Their painting had a great influence on the work of Carlo Crivelli.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – they are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice. The saints are shown standing on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne, so that the figures seem to exist in the same space. The flowering hedge behind them also ran behind the Virgin, and is an allusion to the widespread medieval idea of the Virgin as a hortus conclusus, an ’enclosed garden‘, a metaphor for her chastity. The white and red roses were also symbols of the Virgin, who was often referred to as ’the rose without a thorn‘.
The style and setting of the holy figures is very close to that in an altarpiece signed by Antonio and Giovanni in 1446 (now in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice), and this altarpiece was probably painted around the same time. The altarpiece was still in the church of San Moisè in 1644 but was presumably dismantled when the church was rebuilt later in the century.


More paintings by Antonio Vivarini

More paintings by Giovanni d'Alemagna
